Gondor Reinforcements - Pippin Guard of the Citadel, and Mounted Banner Bearer.

In the lead up to Chris and I attending Call to Arms this year, there were a few army choices to be made...

For Chris's Gondor force, we decided to add the Mounted Banner bearer to his force of mounted knights, for that all so useful melee re-roll, especially when the knights could be operating off on a flank, away from  the army centre, where the main army Banner would be.

When I selected the banner bearer from my horde-of-unpainted-miniatures stash (we've all got one right?)... I also noticed Pippin in the livery of a Guard of the Citadel.

I couldn't resist painting him up at the same time...

He didn't make the cut for the army list, but he's a great little figure all the same, hard to resist... enjoy the pics...

To the Death ... LOTR Four player doubles fun...

Last night, four of us gathered for a game of Lord of the Rings... with Bryan, Ste and Roly joining me for some Middle-Earth fun...

We played the game as a 2 vs 2, 500pts per player, with Bryan leading his Rivendell Elves, and Ste bringing his Uruk force. I added Mordor for myself alongside Ste, and put on 500pts of Gondor for Roly to command, alongside Bryan's Elves.

Bryan had Glorfindel and Gildor leading his two warbands on foot.
Ste had Lurtz and an uruk captain leading two blocks of Uruk warriors, with a warg mounted orc captain leading some warg riders.

For Mordor, I had a full power Generic Wraith on horse, Grishnahk and a warg mounted Shaman leading the orc soldiery.
Boromir and Beregong led the Warriors of Minas Tirith on foot, with Damrod leading a small group of rangers, for Roly.

We rolled off for mission and got To the Death, so a straight up fight ensued.

Deployment as below.

We didn't have long to play with it being a weeknight evening, so all deployed forward to get into the scrap quickly...

There was enough terrain to make the game interesting, without it over impeding game play, the ruins providing an object for the warg riders to make a flanking move around, as the rest of the battle lines formed up, with the rangers holding a small wood on the opposite flank.

And thus battle was quickly joined...

The evil force won initial priority and charged headlong in to the fight, with the Warg riders commencing their flanking move. Boromir was lashed by a Sap Will from the wraith and lost 2 of his 3 Will points... Whilst Lurtz found himself targeted by an Immobilize from Gildor, but shrugged it off...

The Orc shaman channelled Fury...

Initial bow fire from the Elves and Rangers was ineffective, and melee commenced...

A steady toll started to wrack up the casualties, though with the shamans fury saved some orcs and Grishnakh.

The combats raged back and forth with holes appearing in the lines. Boromir was the typical combat beast in the centre, blasting through the evil lines...

But with the warg riders threatening to envelope the good guys left flank, the elves and men there started to pull back trying to form a battle line between the ruin and woods...

Grishnahk found himself fighting Glorfindel... not the best place to be, especially when both sides roll a 6 and Glorfindel wins on Fight Skill, but the 2 wounds he received were saved by the Shamans Fury!

Elsewhere Lurtz suffered another immobilse from Gildor, and was slain, though this only seemed to enrage the surrounding uruks who then cut down several elves...

The wraith hit Boromir with a Transfix, on a 6 , but with his last will point Boromir rolled a 6 too to resist it! Shaking his ethereal head in disbelief the wraith then charged a lone WoMT to try and get involved in the fights too...

The rangers closed in, looking to pick off supporting uruk pikemen and managed to drop a couple...

Boromir, having broken right through the evil lines, was thus then surrounded and trapped there by orcs and uruks!

Grishnahk was still looking at the glowing elf lord, and nervously looked sideways to the wraith who obliged with a 4 dice Transfix on Glorfindel, getting a 6, but who then resisted with 3 dice and used a point of might to boost a 5 to a 6 and resist the spell!

By now the warg riders were breaking round the flank and back of the retreating WoMT and Elf line starting to threaten their rear...

With time drawing to a close, the final combats were fought with Grishnakh again surviving the Elves attention to the cost of a Fate point, Fury saves keeping him alive...

Despite being surrounded Boromir triumphed again and slew more orcs for the fun of it...

The wraith charged in against the same WoMT as last turn, and killed the brave warrior.

The remaining melees were resolved and the game concluded.

Final positions...

A quick tally up of VPs, found neither side yet broken, neither commander (Boromir or Wraith) wounded or slain, and both sides each having 1 banner... resulting in a 1 - 1 Draw.

With the game being a draw, we had a fun little fight off between Boromir and the Wraith, with Boromir winning, but failing to wound the wraith...

We only had time for 3 turns. Ste, coming to chez-moi for the first time, got a little lost, with me living a bit out in the wop-wops, and upon arrival enjoyed introductions and chat too, so we didn't get started till 8pm, with a 10pm finish scheduled.

But no matter, we all enjoyed the game none the less, and some spicy snacks from wifeypoos were a nice accompaniment.

The game was left in one of those poised positions, as both sides ponder on what might have befallen next... The evil right flank looked to be doing well against the faltering good left. The Uruks on the flank were pretty much even with the elves there, but the rangers were approaching... and Boromir was still loose in the evil backfield, though now with no Will remaining and at risk of Transfix and being surrounded by the orcs and wraith. If I could get the wraith in too, the wraiths high courage would hopefully have nullified Boromirs Horn of Gondor...

But who knows, we can ponder the ifs, buts and maybes forever...

I always enjoy these sort of doubles games as they are always great light hearted fun... looking forward to another adventure in Middle-Earth.

The defence of the ruins of Cair Andros

The year is 3017 of the Third Age of this world...

A sense of foreboding lies over the realm of Gondor, as if some great event is about to take place... Long has Gondor dwelt in the shadow of Mordor, its visceral threat evidenced by dark clouds over that cursed land, punctuated by flashes of flame as Mount Doom rumbles restlessly in its long slumber...

Ever have the borders of Gondor been tested, whether by foul orcs from Mordor itself, or the varied races of evil men of the East, in thrall to Sauron, the Dark Lord of Mordor.

On this fair summer morn, Faramir is north east of the great city of Minas Tirith, checking the northern borders with his company of rangers, around the ruined outskirts of Cair Andros. The small garrison here guards the norther crossings of the great river Anduin, which lie in direct course to the Gates of the Black Land, the Morannon...

It is not only Faramir, who is in the north that day, but Boromir, his brother, also has just arrived from Minas Tirith. Travelling with a company of the Tower Guard, he is inspecting the borders of Gondor, looking for weakness...

The meeting of the brothers is a joyous time, but their merriment is short lived as Faramir's ranger scouts bring in news from further north. Dust clouds herald the approach of a host of men on foot and horse, led by a great man borne in horse drawn chariot. The wainriders have come, once again!

-----o0o-----

Our second game at the KWC, saw Andrew and myself enjoying another game of LOTR/Hobbit. 

Andrew had wanted to bring his Eastern Realms force featuring Easterlings of Rhûn and Khandish troops led by a Khandish Chieftain in chariot. This would give me a good chance to try out my fledgling Gondor force that I have recently competed over the last month or so.

We decided to keep the points at 600 for the army size, as we have found this is a big enough size to include some decent monsters or heroes, without being too large that we cant get conclusion in a comfortable evenings playing time.

As I arrived at the club, Andrew had the table set up ready to play, having arrived earlier... a couple of dice throws later and we were playing 'Lords of Battle' and I won the first dice to choose sides and start deploying...

Lords of Battle is basically a kill fest where you score points for all the kills you achieve and points for wounds inflicted upon and fate points used up, by enemy heroes... Once one side breaks (down to 50%) you roll a die... on a 1-2 game ends, otherwise play on ... and check again next turn and so on...

-----o0o-----

Deployment:

Andrew had set the board up with his Gothic ruins set, depicting the outskirts of a ruined settlement.

I had Boromir, leading a warband of WoMT (Warriors of Minas Tirith), Faramir leading a mixed warband of WoMT and Rangers and a Captain of MT leading a warband of WoMT. An all infantry force, with strong armour for the most part backed by a few rangers.

Spying Andrews force I could see a mixed formation; solid heavily armoured Easterling foot troops and kataphract cavalry, in addition to lighter armoured Khandish foot and light bow armed hosremen. ( I love the look of these troops they have a real Mongol horde look about them, and I have started acquiring some to compliment for Mordor forces.) At their head was a very grand looking Khandish Chieftain riding his war chariot. Super job on this by Andrew - nice to see the extra effort to add reigns and even the addition of severed Gondorian heads!

As usual we deployed in alternating warband fashion, and I was wary of being caught in the open too much against the cavalry and chariot. So I deployed Faramir's warband first, holding the central ruin, with covering archer positions to the fore and flank. Andrew placed his Easterling foot centrally which I countered with Boromir's warband, centrally positioned. Andrew placed his Khandish foot reinforcing the Easterling foot, against which I placed my last infantry warband on my far left flank, led by my Captain. Finally Andrew placed his cavalry and chariot on my right flank, looking possibly to sweep through the weaker flank held by my rangers...

Battlefield deployment

"The board is set... the pieces are moving..." ... great line by Gandalf!

The brothers hold the Gondorian centre

Rangers hold the Gondorian right as the Rhûnic cavalry look to turn the flank.

-----o0o-----

Battle is joined!

I won priority for the first turn and charged forward with most of my troops, whilst the rangers continued to hold the ruin on my right flank.

The Khandish cavalry went up the flank as expected...

...but the Easterling kataphracts led by the Khandish chariot, swung in towards the centre and the end of the Gondorian line...

Initial bow fire from the rangers killed one Khandish horseman and unhorsed another. Two shots at the chariot instead hit the kataphract but failed to penetrate the armour.

The early part of the fighting showed the difference between the heavier armoured Gondorians and the lighter armoured Khandish foot troops. The Easterlings and Gondorians being a match for each other, in the centre, but Boromir made a slight difference here, though was making hard work of it...

Sensing the risk to his right flank, the Khandish warlord continued towards that flank escorted by two kataphracts...

The Khandish light horse galloped in towards the ruins the rangers were holding, bows twanging, trying to flush them out...

Battle was fierce all along the main battleline. Faramir had joined the fray against the kataphracts attacking the end of the Gondorian line. Boromir still tried to push through the Easterling centre, trying to get towards their captain.

The Khandish chariot rumbled into position now to reinforce the faltering Khandish flank, now just waiting for a gap to charge into...

The rangers feel the pressure as the Khandish light horse approach, they can wait for another round of shooting before they will have to retire...

The strong Gondorian armour continues to hold out against the Khandish foot...

The rangers pull back just in time as two warriors rush to help the now faltering Gondorian right, one ranger is too slow to react and caught...

Battle rages and the Khandish chariot rider makes his presence felt crashing into the Gondorian soldiery... as Boromir finally gets to the Easterling captain. Meanwhile the Khandish chieftain on foot finds himself surrounded for the second time...

Boromir fights on, urging his line to hold... Faramir at the flank battles on with the kataphracts...

The Khandish foot troops have been sorely beaten by the Gondorian foot, but now the gaps in their ranks are terribly exploited by the charging chariot and Easterling kataphracts, and brave Gondorian soldiers begin to fall...

The Gondorians continue to hold, with pressure on all sides now, but they keep battling and evil men of the East continue to fall...

A ranger has fallen in the ruins but the other light horsemen are fought off, and Faramir has felled the kataphract he was engaged with...

The Khandish chariot mounted chieftain continues to batter his way forward into the Gondorian line knocking men over like bowling pins... Boromir is too far away to help, being engaged still in the centre with the Easterling captain... The Gondorian captain will have to hold as best he can...

The battle rages on in the ruins...

Boromir battles on with the Easterling captain... the line thins as other troops pull back to help other positions...

 ...trying to hold the Easterlings, whilst greater numbers try to deal to the Khandish troops...

The chariot crashes on into several Gondorians... and the Khandish Chieftain on foot battles on having survived being surrounded twice!

The rangers see to one of the horsemen, but are beaten back by the other, the line against the Easterlings holds as more Khandish troops fall, but the chariot is unstoppable... felling the Captain of Minas Tirith!

The final Khandish light horseman is surrounded in the ruins and pulled from his horse, ending the pressure on the Gondorian right flank..

The khandish Chariot crashes on its trail on destruction, the Gondorian left now sorely tested and looking to crumble...

Boromir is still engaged with the Easterling captain...

... as Faramir fights off the last Kataphract on the Gondorian right... finally cutting him down from his horse...

The battle rages on... the flank ruin is secure and the rangers can now look to move to reinforce the centre... and Faramir can start to try and turn the Easterling flank... The remnants of the Gondorian left, having dealt with the Khandish foot troops, now look to withdraw to the centre... away from the chariot threat...

...if they can lure the chariot that way, Boromir may be able to deal with it, that is our slim hope...

A brave Gondorian trooper charges the stalled chariot, impeding its charging movement, Faramir is starting to turn the Easterling line, but a kataphract moves up to threaten this bold move...

Can Gondor hold on...

The brave Gondorian who charged the chariot is dispatched, but Boromir has finally managed to fell the Easterling Captain in the centre.

And at that point the fateful chance cube comes to rest, showing battle is over this day... dusk has come and both sides withdraw...

Boromir stands holding the centre, with his brother Faramir close at hand...

The two Khandish war chieftains have crushed the Gondorian left...

You have fought well this day little brother!

-----o0o-----

And so ends our battle, a most enjoyable and brutal game. The casualties shown below...

The final victory point tally shows a slim victory to Gondor with final scores for casualties inflicted, and wounds suffered and fate points used up, by heroes as, 28 - 22, in Gondors favour. At the end, both sides were broken.

A thrilling game and we look forward to our next installment.

Andrew wants to bring his beautifully converted Dol Amroth army so I will be fielding the varied foul troops Mordor has to deploy....

Join us in a fortnights time for the next thrilling encounter!